Jin dynasty (1115–1234)

The Jin dynasty (1115–1234), formally called the Great Jin, was an empire led by the Jurchen people under the Wanyan clan. It began when Wanyan Aguda rebelled against the Liao dynasty (916–1125), which had controlled northern China until the rising Jin pushed it into the Western Regions, where it became known as the Western Liao. At its height, the Jin stretched from Outer Manchuria in the north down to the Qinling–Huaihe Line in the south. After taking over Liao lands, the Jin fought a century-long series of campaigns against the Song dynasty (960–1279), which was based in southern China and ruled by ethnic Han Chinese. Over time, Jin emperors adopted Han customs and strengthened the Great Wall to defend against the growing Mongol Empire. The dynasty also promoted cultural developments, including a revival of Confucianism.

The Jin’s official name, "Great Jin," came from the word for "gold." The Jurchen term for gold was *alchun*, which Aguda chose for his state. This word may have come from the "Anchuhu" River—meaning "golden" in Jurchen—a tributary of the Songhua River east of Harbin, known today as Alechuka. After capturing Kaifeng and occupying northern China, some advisors suggested using "metal" as the dynasty’s element from the five phases (*wuxing*), linking it to gold and distancing the Jin from the Song. This nativist view saw the Jin as rooted in Northeast Asia, not following earlier Chinese dynasties. But the emperor rejected this, instead choosing earth as the dynastic element and yellow as the royal color. According to *wuxing* theory, earth follows fire—the Song’s element—in the cycle of creation, signaling that the Jin considered the Song’s rule over China over and saw themselves as the rightful rulers of China Proper.

The Mongols called the Jin ruler the "Golden khan" (Altan khan). Through the Mongols, the Jin became the first Chinese dynasty known in Europe by its dynastic name; Marco Polo rendered it as *roi d'or*, or "gold king." Jin emperors also referred to their state as China, or Zhongguo ("Middle Kingdom"), as some other non-Han dynasties did. Non-Han rulers broadened the definition of "China" to include both Han and non-Han peoples when they ruled. Jin documents show that dynasties using "China" to describe themselves began earlier than previously thought.

The Wanyan surname of the imperial family appears in various forms across languages, such as Wongian, Wonyan, Wongyan, or Ongging. In Manchu, it is Wanggiyan. The name does not come from Jurchen but from a Sino-Khitan word combining the Middle Chinese title for king or prince (*ong*; *wang* in modern Mandarin) with a Khitan suffix. Written as 完颜 during the Liao-Jin period, it gives the modern Mandarin pronunciation Wányán. Thus, the Wanyan Jurchens mean the "kingly" or "royal" Jurchens.

The Tungusic-speaking Mohe people, who lived in what is now Northeast China, are most often cited as the ancestors of the Jin dynasty and its Jurchen ethnicity. They appear in Chinese texts from the late 5th century AD. The Mohe were mostly sedentary, hunting, raising pigs, and growing soybeans, wheat, millet, and rice. Horses were rare until the Tang period, and pastoralism only spread in the 10th century under Khitan rule. They exported reindeer products and may have ridden reindeer. They practiced widespread slavery, using slaves for hunting and farming. The Tang described them as fierce and uncultured, using poisoned arrows. The two strongest Mohe groups were the Heishui Mohe (Blackwater Mohe) in the north, named after the Heilong River, and the Sumo Mohe in the south, named after the Songhua River. Early 12th-century Jurchen traditions say their people came from the Heishui Mohe in the forested mountains of eastern Manchuria and Russia’s Primorsky Krai. In the 10th century, the Mohe formed the Wuguo ("Five Nations") federation northeast of modern Jilin, which also contributed to the Jurchens’ rise. The Jurchens may have been mentioned as the Little Ruzhe people, who gave silver and gold to the Tang court in 748; otherwise, they appear in records only from the 10th century as tribute bearers to the Liao, Later Tang, and Song courts. A Jurchen embassy to Later Tang is recorded in 925, and one to the Song in 961, arriving by sea via the Liaodong peninsula. They practiced hunting and fishing.